Press release
‘We have read the investigative report entitled “The assets of Gambia’s former dictator go for a song” published by The Republic on April 30, 2025. The findings detailed matters of conflict of interest, lack of transparency, and alleged corruption involving authorities responsible for the management and disposal of Jammeh’s forfeited assets.
Before this investigative report by The Republic, the former secretary of the Janneh Commission of Inquiry, Alhaji Kurang, filed a petition in 2018 protesting alleged conflict of interest in the suspension of the sale of Jammeh’s asset, which he was later sacked for. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) defended his sacking stating among other reasons that “…Mr Kurang, as Secretary to the Commission (similar to the position of Registrar of the court), has no legal standing to raise issues of potential conflicts of interest between the parties.”
What is worth noting is that the Ministry of Justice admitted on the same report that there was an instance where potential conflict of interest surfaced at the Commission and they (MoJ) had to engage an external lawyer to investigate the matter, the outcome of which is not reported to the public.
We also noted the Ministry of Justice’s official response dated May 5, 2025, to The Republic’s investigate report. The Ministry made mentioned that “All the assets sold so far have been subjected to an audit by the National Audit Office whose report will be submitted to the National Assembly.”
But as of today, May 6, 2025, there has not been any special audit conducted by the NAO on the receiving, management and disposal processes of Jammeh’s forfeited assets. What we have come across is a disturbing finding by the NAO in its fiscal year ending 2020 GoTG audit report (which is a general government account’s audit) regarding the sale of Jammeh’s asset.
The auditors noted that Treasury Receipts amounting to D706,306,614.07 were disclosed in the Financial Statements as proceeds received from the sale of assets by the Janneh Commission. The auditors requested supporting documents regarding the sale of the assets by the Janneh Commission which includes: “bidding documents, advertisements made on the sale of the assets, valuation of the assets disposed, and by whom, appointment of auctioneers, and license of the auctioneers.”
However, all the documents requested by the Auditor General were not provided. Whether the lack of presentation of supporting documents by the responsible authorities/individual to the Auditor General for audit is intentional or not, this matter remains unresolved. Undoubtedly, there has been insufficient transparency in the manner in which the forfeited assets of Yahya Jammeh were disposed, which resulted to lack of public trust and confidence in the process.
The reported conflict of interest that has been re-echoed by The Republic and government’s initial refusal to publish the names of the buyers citing “privacy” issues , left many questions unanswered. Since 2019 to date, the government has not provided the public and victims of Yahya Jammeh with sufficient information on how exactly over D1 billion proceeds from the sale of Jammeh’s asset were spent. These are public interest assets, and their disposal must follow international and regionally recognised standards.
Most importantly, the proceeds of the assets should directly benefit the victims who are impatiently waiting for their full compensation. This is in line with the GFAR Principle 5 which states that “where possible, and without prejudice to identified victims, stolen assets recovered from corrupt officials should benefit the people of the nations harmed by the underlying corrupt conduct.
In conclusion, the government must not allow corruption to police corruption and the transparency government preach should be in practice. Lack of transparency of the asset disposal process by the Commission and the government itself would undermine the incredible work done by the Commission and government’s anti-corruption efforts. Gambia Participates therefore calls on the government to take the following actions to address the unresolved matters surrounding the alleged corruption and lack of transparency in the management and disposal of Jammeh’s asset:
-As an immediate action, MoJ should publish the list of all Jammeh’s assets forfeited, the disposed assets (including the disposal process, value of each disposed asset against their actual disposal amount, who the buyers of the assets are, total proceeds generated), and the state of the remaining forfeited assets and their values.
-The Ministry of Justice has already set a positive precedent using journalistic investigative report to further investigate and prosecute corruption. We call on the Ministry of Justice to follow this precedent and take the report of The Republic seriously.
-In addition, MoJ should engage the NAO to conduct a special audit on the management and disposal of Jammeh’s asset and act on the recommendations.
-The Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly must exercise immediate oversight and take accountability action.
